If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Reply to Thread

Your Message

Please correctly re-type the phrase f o o t d o c t o r in the form box. Re-type it without the extra spaces and put the one space where it should be. We apologize for having to do this but this silliness helps slow the spammers.

Title:

Additional Options

Additional Options:

Automatically parse links in text

Topic Review (Newest First)

05-05-2013, 01:40 PM

KevinCBrown

Same old BS

Originally Posted by Raytay

Learn what you are posting about before you presume to lecture others. The part that breaks on most of the X5 window regulators is not the 99 cent clip that connects the bottom of the window to the regulator. It is the plastic molded part where the cable attaches to pull the window up. When the window is lifted and reaches the top, the cable breaks out of the plastic. At this point the window will usually stay up even though the regulaor is now broken because it is jammed in the window seal. Next time you take the window down it will not go back up. This is why some people park the car and come back the next day to find the window all the way down inside the door. There is a DIY fix if the cables haven't bird-nested inside the door, but all of the regulators I have had fail needed to be replaced.
My X5 is a 2001 and I had 3 regulators replaced under warranty, and I have replaced 4 more myself. It is not as easy as you make it sound. I usually break one or more of the clipa holding the door panel on when I remove it and have to epoxy them back on. It takes about two hours if it goes well and I already have the parts.

Here are my points.

Slamming the door has nothing to do with most of the window failures on BMW's. Maybe your ignorant friends slam your car doors, mine don't. But even if they did, it wouldn't cause the failures I described.

It is perfectly normal for luxury car owners to expect their manufacturer to make a quality product, and if they do not they need to find a suitable long term repair or extend the warranty themselves. You may call it whining, but BMW America reads every one of these posts. We may not actually get a class action, but the threat of one may force them to be better business people.

Working on cars doesn't make you a man. A lot of people simply don't have time to mess with it. My 70 year old mother drives a BMW. I don't expect her to start pulling the door panels off her car so she can be a man and meet your BMW ownership standard. If she had a chronic problem with it, I would expect her to complain, just like most of the people on this forum.

And last but not least, you are arrogant. I hope every problem ever posted about any car on this forum happens to you, and whatever you drive stays broken and you wind up riding a bicycle with a warped rim.

He's why I quit coming to Roadfly years ago. I have no problem with stating how to make the fix, nor his correct assertion that this wouldn't gain enough traction for a class action suit. But his reponses have always oozed slimey measily mouth talk that can only come from a used car salesman or lawyer.

What I really hoped to find here was a "do it yourself" step by step posting. I haven't found it yet. If I don't, then I will likely stay away from Roadfly another 8 years.

I have a 2003 X5. and both front windows did the dreaded go down and won't go up again. I too am a handy man and doctor. You will pay out the rear for these cars out of warranty that's a given. Here is what I did, use xoutpost.com to find screws and get door panel off. I did not remove the window regulator as this is hard and to realign. If you look the the rear cable guide that holds the cable is cracked and the small piece on the cable has come out. ITS not the 99 cent clip they sell at BMW. This guide is not available by itself at any dealer or online. ONLY place i saw it was on ebay and its totally plastic from Turkey. If you unbolt the back and front guides from the window and pull it up and use a piece of wood to hold it out of the way. The unbolted guide will come off the track when twisted 90 degrees. Now you will see the small indentation that hold the cable an its cracked. I took a small drill and drilled a small hole above and below where the cable goes. I have a large roll of twisting wire from home depot) I cut two small pieces. Once I have the holes I want in the metal guide above and below where the cable goes into this thing. Then slip this wire pieces thru these holes and you can stretch the cable out and slip it into this guide and twist tightly the cable onto the guide (its not on the track yet). Once it real tight and the cable attached to the guide you can guide it in that 90 degree angle back on to the regulator track. Then bring window down and bolt into place. THE damn thing works better than new. COST= just knowledge and some wire I had in the garage.

You own a 10-year-old ******* car, time to trade it in. 10 year old cars should belong only to people who know how to fix them.

If you can't turn a wrench, don't own a BMW that far out of warranty. This ain't freaking rocket science and even a HR manager with a degree in "management" should understand that.

NOW PISS OFF, PISSANT!

02-10-2012, 09:55 PM

Robert Platt Bell

You bought a 325i in 2002?

You bought the cheapest ******* car BMW made, a decade ago (let me guess, it has an AUTOMATIC transmission - LAMER!!!) and a DECADE LATER you are whining about it.

If I could SLAP YOU through the computer screen, I would.

325? Sheesh! Is this your wife's car?

02-10-2012, 09:54 PM

Robert Platt Bell

Not the regulators, the clips. They are 99 cents apiece. Stop slamming the doors.

Originally Posted by jayb

So, you say--close the door gently---is the fix for the window regulator problem that is widely know and experienced by BMW car owners. The problem is slamming the door. Glad you came out with this good advice and the ultimate solution to everyones problem.
PS--I have changed 5 regulators on my E46, and NEVER had to change one on any prior models or any other car I have owned over the years. But this is the first post I have seen that came out with the ultimate solution--just don't slam the doors. I am going to put a large sign up on each of my 4 car door windows saying that, glad you have shared with up the final solution. I am sure that the bigger the lettering on the sign is, the less chance of the regulator going bad.
You may want to market your PR services to BMW. You should also get a memo out to BMW regarding this solution so that they can issue a technical release to all dealers. Nothing like someone who knows what they are talking about.

Ya gotta love clueless Yuppies. They buy a BMW because they think they are rich and then when they break, they can't fix them because, lets face it, they can't even replace a light bulb.

Once again (slowly this time) If your stupid spoiled kids slam the doors in a hissy fit on the way back from junior soccer practice, the 99 cent plastic clips WILL break. Smack your kid upside the head and say "This is a BMW and worth more than you are, you turd. And you can't even play soccer worth ****!"

Or, you can whine about how you spent all this money on BMWs and they aren't perfect, when the real issue is that you really couldn't afford the car in the first place and now are wondering why your 401(k) is underfunded.

Eat **** and die, Yuppie Scum!

Sorry, but I've had five BMWs (four at one time) and if you want to own these out of warranty, you'd better be handy with tools.

And for those of you who apparently cannot read at all (another yuppie failing) I am a lawyer AND and automotive engineer.

I can fix these things. You can't. Sell your BMW or get an extended warranty. But stop whining. No one feels sorry for people who THINK they are rich and try to show off by buying fancy cars and then crying like babies when the window breaks.

I posted pictures here on how to fix it. It costs 99 ******* cents. How ******* cheap are you yuppies.

Now, go off and drink your ******* starbucks or whatever it is you pukes do. You make me want to vomit.

******* spoiled Americans. Sheesh!

01-09-2012, 09:36 PM

Long Time BMW Purchaser

Will this be my last BMW?

Purchased 325i in 2002

Replaced Window regulators in 2009, 2010, and now in 2012 one regulator just broke and the final one is very slow

Amount spent $1200.00 total for first two and now price will be $699.00 for the one broken today and who knows how much when the fourth one
breaks.

Owned two previous BMWs before 2002 for over 10 years each--no problems

10-24-2011, 04:34 AM

jayb

So, you say--close the door gently---is the fix for the window regulator problem that is widely know and experienced by BMW car owners. The problem is slamming the door. Glad you came out with this good advice and the ultimate solution to everyones problem.
PS--I have changed 5 regulators on my E46, and NEVER had to change one on any prior models or any other car I have owned over the years. But this is the first post I have seen that came out with the ultimate solution--just don't slam the doors. I am going to put a large sign up on each of my 4 car door windows saying that, glad you have shared with up the final solution. I am sure that the bigger the lettering on the sign is, the less chance of the regulator going bad.
You may want to market your PR services to BMW. You should also get a memo out to BMW regarding this solution so that they can issue a technical release to all dealers. Nothing like someone who knows what they are talking about.

10-23-2011, 05:47 PM

Robert Platt Bell

How to Close a BMW X5 door.

With the door open, push it gently until it reaches the first stop. At this point, let go. The hinges are slanted to make the door close by itself.

It will close quietly and without fuss - just LET GO OF IT. Don't PUSH it at ALL.

Anything MORE than that is SLAMMING it, and yea, you will break the window regulator clips right off.

It works for me.

Buy extra door panel clips AND window regulator clips (and get some weatherstripping clips while you are at it). For about $10 you can buy a lifetime supply from any of the online catalogs.

Only an idiot would "epoxy" 59-cent door panel clips back together. Sheesh!

The X5 door is a nice piece of Engineering (and I say this as an Automotive Engineer) but, like most European cars, it isn't designed to be slammed.

I've had this car for seven years now. I replaced the clips the previous owners broke and have never had ANY PROBLEMS with the window regulators.

Now, why is this? Because I don't slam the doors.....

10-23-2011, 05:42 PM

Robert Bell

How's the lawsuit going? Thought so.

Again, after years of whining, no lawsuit. Funny, too, because this is a problem affecting the E46.

But again, lawyers want to see big damages and on a lot of cars. Mini CVT works as a class-action suit, as the repairs are $9000. Window regulators don't cut it.

After replacing the clips on mine (I keep extras in the glove box) several years ago, I have had no problems. But I am careful not to slam the doors, particularly with the window halfway down.

And yes, it is just a 99 cent clip. And yes, dealers will replace the whole assembly and charge you, if you are dumb enough to take an out-of-warranty BMW to a dealer.

Door handles are another matter - have gone through both driver's and passenger's side (the latter was replaced under warranty). The part is $98 from ECS, including shipping. Takes about 20 minutes to install.

However, in a 10-year-old, 130,000 mile car, this is called "wear and tear" not class-action material.

Once out of warranty, either get handy with tools or find an independent shop to do your work. These cars can quickly become an expensive nightmare in a hurry.

For example, in Halifax, I blew out the alternator. The local helpful dealer wanted $900 for a rebuilt replacement - plus labor to install! Screw that!

The local NAPA had one for $300 (still a staggering amount for an alternator) and it took about an hour to install with my portable tool kit.

Fortunately, I have the easy-to-work-on 3.0 and not the nightmarish V-8 with its water-cooled alternator.

At this point in the vehicle life-cycle, the car is worth MAYBE $10,000. Spending 10% of the residual value on an alternator (which the dealer wanted me to do) makes no sense at all.

And it seems I am seeing fewer and fewer of these cars on the road. I suspect a lot of them are heading off to the wreckers these days, once the tranny blows or the engine has a major fault.

I hope to flog mine for another 5 years and another 50,000 miles before finding a replacement.

My next car will burn regular gas and not require prescription tires and motor oil. One big downside to BMWs is that you can't drive them to places like Alaska.

I was lucky mine did not break down in Labrador - it would have taken a week or more to get parts. Ouch.

05-31-2011, 02:15 PM

Unregistered

Lawyer? You need to be an engineer to see the faulty mechanisms.

Take a broken one apart and you will see why they break. I have a 1983 BMW and the window motors/regulators have had no problems. My 2 2000 540's both have failures, My 1995 530i failed and my 2001 325 also has failed. You need to educate yourself on the abundance of problems with these BMW components. They still use the original motor and that has never failed (for me) unless the regulator and individual misuse the window. The broad use of plastic in the modern BMW's has caused many instances of failure since plastic gets brittle with age. Planned obsolescence (sp.) at it's best.

Originally Posted by Robert Platt Bell

I am an Automotive Engineer and a Lawyer.

This class action nonsense is just that, from both an Engineering and Legal perspective.

End of story.

Take care of the car, stop slamming the doors (just let them go, the close themselves, and yes, if you've broken regulators, you've been slamming doors).

I have 100,000 miles on my car and do not have these problems - one slighly cracked regulator (driver's door, from previous owner) and two clips (ditto).

In the five years, 50,000 miles I have had it, no regulator problems.

BUT I KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF CARS!

These are cars driven by women a lot, and then tend to abuse cars.

END OF STORY.

Now, go away, little boy!

05-31-2011, 02:06 PM

Unregistered

Consider yourself lucky!

The cost alone of an E39 regulator is $300. The labor is another $500. These are terribly unreliable, made with cheap unreinforced pot metal. I am a huge fan of BMW except for their shoddy assemblies.

11-26-2010, 12:35 AM

Gerry

Re: OK, because you said PLEASE

Ok, the slamming doors causing the window regulator to go out is bull crap. Most people don't "slam" a BMW door, or close it any harder than any other door. The bottom line is the window regulators BMW find acceptable are complete junk, and they are 100% aware of it, but they continue to use them. No other car has window regulators go out as much as a BMW. This quality craftsmanship is a joke. BMWs are simply poorly designed and built cars plagued with problems of every kind, much more than any other car. I've owned two BMWs and a variety of other cars and no other car has been in the shop more than this sorry built "ultimate driving machine". As for those "cheap American cars"... I've never had a window regulator go out on any American or other car. I'm dealing with the 2nd in two months.

10-20-2010, 06:09 PM

Robert Platt Bell

Get Engineering and Law degrees then come back

I am an Automotive Engineer and a Lawyer.

This class action nonsense is just that, from both an Engineering and Legal perspective.

End of story.

Take care of the car, stop slamming the doors (just let them go, the close themselves, and yes, if you've broken regulators, you've been slamming doors).

I have 100,000 miles on my car and do not have these problems - one slighly cracked regulator (driver's door, from previous owner) and two clips (ditto).

In the five years, 50,000 miles I have had it, no regulator problems.

BUT I KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF CARS!

These are cars driven by women a lot, and then tend to abuse cars.

END OF STORY.

Now, go away, little boy!

10-19-2010, 01:32 PM

Raytay

Re: Once again, sorry to break it to you......

Learn what you are posting about before you presume to lecture others. The part that breaks on most of the X5 window regulators is not the 99 cent clip that connects the bottom of the window to the regulator. It is the plastic molded part where the cable attaches to pull the window up. When the window is lifted and reaches the top, the cable breaks out of the plastic. At this point the window will usually stay up even though the regulaor is now broken because it is jammed in the window seal. Next time you take the window down it will not go back up. This is why some people park the car and come back the next day to find the window all the way down inside the door. There is a DIY fix if the cables haven't bird-nested inside the door, but all of the regulators I have had fail needed to be replaced.
My X5 is a 2001 and I had 3 regulators replaced under warranty, and I have replaced 4 more myself. It is not as easy as you make it sound. I usually break one or more of the clipa holding the door panel on when I remove it and have to epoxy them back on. It takes about two hours if it goes well and I already have the parts.

Here are my points.

Slamming the door has nothing to do with most of the window failures on BMW's. Maybe your ignorant friends slam your car doors, mine don't. But even if they did, it wouldn't cause the failures I described.

It is perfectly normal for luxury car owners to expect their manufacturer to make a quality product, and if they do not they need to find a suitable long term repair or extend the warranty themselves. You may call it whining, but BMW America reads every one of these posts. We may not actually get a class action, but the threat of one may force them to be better business people.

Working on cars doesn't make you a man. A lot of people simply don't have time to mess with it. My 70 year old mother drives a BMW. I don't expect her to start pulling the door panels off her car so she can be a man and meet your BMW ownership standard. If she had a chronic problem with it, I would expect her to complain, just like most of the people on this forum.

And last but not least, you are arrogant. I hope every problem ever posted about any car on this forum happens to you, and whatever you drive stays broken and you wind up riding a bicycle with a warped rim.

10-04-2010, 05:08 PM

Robert Platt Bell

Once again, sorry to break it to you......

Class Action attorneys want big payouts. That means they want a client base of MILLIONS of people to make it work.

BMW maybe made a few hundred thousand of these cars, and the 99 cent clips breaking on a few of them is not enough to make it profitable for them for a class-action suit.

This is not a hard repair to do, either. See my links below.

If you want everything "covered" they buy an extended warranty from BMW.

Otherwise, you assume the risk. Learn how to fix your car or find a good independent BMW mechanic. DO NOT take an out-of-warranty car to a dealer.

Again, slamming the doors on this car is unnecessary. Let the door go, and gravity will close it. TRY IT AND SEE!

Most Americans slam their car doors VERY HARD as they are used to crappy American made cars (which need to be slammed or they never close).

Slamming the doors on these cars, particularly with the windows halfway down, will break the clips on the doors. No slamming = no breaking.

Sorry, but dream on about this class action nonsense. People have been whining about this and the supposed transfer case flaw for over FIVE YEARS NOW. See any class action suit being filed yet?

Nope. And you ain't gonna see one, either.

This sort of sniveling talk makes me ashamed to be an American. Stop being a WHINER! Buck up. Be a man, for chrissakes!

09-29-2010, 01:57 PM

BMTucson

Re: window regulator class-action?

I've had 4 window regulators fail on 3 windows on my 2002 X5. My friend has had 4 on his x5. I am interested in joining a class-action. I know a class-action lawyer and, if enough people let me know if they want to join, I'll look into it. I have sues other large companies (eg. Walgreen's) before.

04-25-2010, 09:24 PM

Jamie Brown

Re: window regulator class-action?

I'm with you Tom on the class action law suit against BMW over these window regulators. I've had them fail 10 times on my 323i and currently have a broken window. I'm also getting water in my car because the vapor barriers were cut to fix the windows. I've tried having that fixed and I'm still getting water in my car. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get a class action going against BMW.

01-17-2009, 02:24 PM

Aggie

Re: window regulator class-action? built to fail .

i have my 2001 X5 that have 3 window regulator replaced and i brought extented warranty on it. so each time is a $100 out of my pocket. it is a joke...the dealer told me i just have bad luck. what can we do about this? any one has suggestion?

01-16-2009, 05:52 PM

robertplattbell

Never put the window halfway down & slam the door

01-16-2009, 05:51 PM

robertplattbell

Order Spares

Pelican had 100 of these clips in stock, and I ordered four of them, using two on the door and saving the rest in my box of "extra plastic small clips".

You will need, over time, spare door panel clips, as well as the brown clips that hold the rubber gasket to the bottom of the door. Since these are only a few cents apiece, it makes sense to order a fistfull of them, given the shipping costs.

The door panel can come off in about 10 minutes, once you get good at it. ;)

Good Luck!

This thread has more than 20 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.